Old Testament Commentary - Ezekiel 39

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 39 Gog and Magog destroyed—For seven years they burn the weapons of war—For seven months they bury the dead—Then comes the supper of the great God and the continued gathering of Israel.
1 THEREFORE, thou son of man, prophesy against ^aGog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the ^anorth parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: 3 And I will ^asmite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 6 And I will send a ^afire on Magog, and among them that dwell ^bcarelessly in the ^cisles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So will I make my holy name ^aknown in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them ^bpollute my holy name any more: and the ^cheathen shall ^dknow that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel^a.	7^a an the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel The 'Holy One in Israel', who is, first of all, Israel? It is NOT merely Judah which is being spoken of here. As so stated in verse 25, it is 'upon the whole house of Israel' that these things will be unto. Judah may take his place in Israel, but this IS NOT exclusively Judah, but eh whole house of Israel that is being addressed here. And that Israel whom the Lord has poured his spirit out upon in the latter days is upon 'the house of Israel' in terms of the restoration of the gospel, by, in, and through Ephraim, the son of Joseph, that it is as D&C 27:10 states, the blessings of the fathers do remain in and through the linage of Israel by Joseph. When viewed from the perspective of 'Israel' and NOT the perspective of 'Judah', this all takes on a new application and meaning that has been 'hid' but in now no longer 'hiden' as 'the Lord will hide his face any more'. And what has been hid by the perspective of Judah? It is the much fuller perspective of the 'whole of Israel', and that by the restoration in and through Ephraim the son of Joseph. (See also Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph)
8 ¶ Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: 10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall ^aspoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
11 ¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the ^apassengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. 12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. 13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them ^aa renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall ^asever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the ^bpassengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. 15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. 16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 ¶ And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every ^abeast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. 18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD. 21 And I will set my glory among the ^aheathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 ¶ And the ^aheathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore ^bhid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their ^cenemies: so fell they all by the sword. 24 ^aAccording to their ^buncleanness and according to their ^ctransgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I ^abring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of ^bIsrael, and will be jealous for my holy name; 26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and ^agathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; 28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 29 Neither will I ^ahide my face any more from them: for I have ^bpoured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.